Archive | Sustainable Energy

The development and operating of more renewable energy electricity is the most focused part of the decarbonizing our electricity grids.

Mr. Porter, who writes the Economic Scene column for The New York Times, characterizes renewable energy commitments in several countries as ambitious infatuations that have led to a glut requiring adjustments to grid operations. He thinks grid operators mindlessly attach more renewable energy generation to the grid as in some kind of blindfolded pin-the-tail game.

To be sure, electric grids in which a significant fraction of energy comes from renewable sources will require operational management changes. For the vast majority of electricity systems in the world, the current level of renewable energy market penetration is so low that leading countries and states will surely have addressed integration issues before they ever become a real problem.

Mr. Porter’s real agenda is revealed when he observes that nuclear and coal power are having a hard time competing on economic terms in today’s competitive energy markets. Renewable energy generation is contributing to revealing the uneconomic nature of plants that devour huge amounts of coal, and for coal and nuclear plants that devour huge amounts of capital investment.

The major threat to nuclear and coal profitability is economic forces primarily related to competition from natural gas and nuclear power’s inability to compete in energy markets without huge subsidies from taxpayers and captive electric monopoly customers.

Mr. Porter further argues that grid operations and generation choices should be built around the rigid operational requirements of nuclear and coal plants. Unable to respond effectively to dynamic market and demand conditions, these plants lumber around the energy marketplace like the poorly-adaptive dinosaurs that they are. Mr. Porter would hobble the new nimble, lean mammals on the energy scene to preserve central station power plant hegemony.

Mr. Porter completely ignores the vast range of distributed energy resources available to shape load, reduce peak demand, and substitute for central station power plants. Resources like distributed generation from solar, wind, biomass, and high efficiency combined heat and power offer energy services with superior total economics to many central station options.

Animating markets for clean distributed energy resources, including a lot of renewable energy generation, is the real objective of the New York Reforming the Energy Vision process, and the imperative for grid managers and policy makers everywhere.

New nuclear generation is even less economic than old; only socialist economies are building nuclear plants today. It may be that temporary support mechanisms to keep zero-emissions nuclear power plants running are a good idea while the utility industry is transformed away from the old dumb, one-way electron factories that Mr. Porter wants to preserve.

Backsliding on carbon emissions reductions cannot be allowed. Nothing should be taken from the resources needed to develop a truly clean energy future just to keep decrepit nuclear plants running. Striking the right balance on these critical goals is a challenge of energy policy today; still all roads must point to a renewable energy future.

Markets have served notice that things have to change and that nuclear power fails to compete; the planet is telling us to decarbonize. Renewable energy supported by efficient use of energy is the only future we can truly afford.

An electrical grid is an interconnected network for delivering electricity from suppliers to consumers. It consists of generating stations that produce electrical power, high-voltage transmission lines that carry power from distant sources to demand centers, and distribution lines that connect individual customers.

Renewable energy is generally defined as energy that is collected from resources which are naturally replenished on a human timescale, such as sunlight, wind, rain, tides, waves, and geothermal heat. Renewable energy often provides energy in four important areas: electricity generation, air and water heating/cooling, transportation, and rural (off-grid) energy services.

Stafford Fuels, which is part of the larger Stafford Group, is set to spend €3 million on a new smokeless fuel plant in New Ross, Co Wexford.

The largest privately owned distributor of solid fuels in Ireland, that have been marketing-environmentally friendly domestic fuels since 1990, with the new facility, confirms their strategic view of a sustainable future for high quality solid fuels and their commitment to product innovation.

“With the growth in demand for smokeless products, this new investment will give Stafford a leadership role and align us with the significant changes facing the sector into the future,” said Andy Maher, Stafford Fuels managing director.

The company said planning permission for the plant was already in place. The new facility, which will be located within the firm’s existing campus at Raheen, will have a capacity to produce 50,000 tonnes of smokeless fuels.
Stafford Group’s energy division currently operates a coal import and wholesale facility on a 20-acre site in New Ross and the new operation is expected to begin within weeks.

As well as generating 10 jobs locally over the nine-month construction period, the new plant will create six additional permanent jobs over the next three years while the development overall is considered a major step in securing the future of 35 existing people directly employed at the company, and a further 20 supporting roles in transport and maintenance.

The 12th of December, 2015 is an historic day for the entire humankind, following the universal agreement found in Paris at the climate conference (COP21). Among the main measures setting up, countries will have to limit their emissions to maintain global warming below 2 °C, with an aspiration of 1,5°C. This advance in the struggle against climate change is added to the current 2020 road map, set up by European Union leaders in 2007 and enacted in its legislation in 2009.

On this date the commission is expecting, for each member state, at least a 20% greenhouse gases reduction compared to 1990 levels, but also, and this is the most important, 20% of energy from renewable sources in its final production. To reach this goal, renewable energies such as wind, solar, geothermal, hydropower or biomass will play an important part in the world and particularly in Europe, which is in the vanguard in this sector. A right time for Premier Publishing to show you the trend for private and public investments in sustainable energy over the next 5 years.

Upward trend
“Renewables are expected to be the largest source of net additions to power capacity over the medium term.” This is what is written in the last Medium-Term Renewable Energy Market Report, published by the IEA (International Energy Agency) last year. But if we focus more on Europe, the report is even more detailed, explaining that “OECD Europe renewable capacity is expected to grow by over 109 GW from 2014-20”. In concrete terms, it means almost a 25% rising during this period.

Here are the main forecast figures for OECD Europe, showing public and private investments taken together in renewable, over 2020, in billion dollars*:

By looking closely to these figures, we see that in 2016, compared to 2015, investments are falling from 3 to 4 billion euros. However, as the IAE explains it in his report, “investment should pick up during the second half of the outlook with increasing offshore wind deployment in OECD Europe due to expected cost reduction and improvements in the competitiveness of solar PV and onshore wind”.

Some major players in the energy sector already planned, or are going to focus more on renewable. For example, Dong Energy, the biggest operator of offshore wind farms in Britain with 6 billion pounds spent so far, said in January that it would double its investments in this field in the next four years. By the way, the company has just started construction of what will be the world ‘biggest offshore wind farm off the Yorkshire coast, featuring 1.2GW of power. We could also talk about Vattenfall, the Swedish power company, whose CEO Magnus Hall declared, in December of last year in several newspapers, that he would like to move away from fossil production:

“Our aim is to be one of the largest producers of renewable energy in Europe and to triple our installed wind power capacity within ten years. In the period 2016-2020, we intend to be a driving force in investment projects in renewable production in the Nordic region, Germany, the Netherlands and Great Britain.”

In Central Europe, Austria’s leading electricity company Verbund already announced that it is “shifting investment to focus on renewables and other energy services”, while on the other side of the border, the German energy giant E.ON officially separated its fossil fuel assets at the beginning of the year. A decision which will “liberate us from continually having to make compromises”, declared Johannes Teyssen, chief executive of E.ON in a statement. Its German rival RWE also announced a similar plan in December, pooling its renewable energy, grids and retail business areas in a new subsidiary. Peter Terium, CEO of RWE AG, acknowledged the restructuring plan was a “response to the transformation of the European energy landscape”.

Last but not least, German financial giant Allianz, one of the world’s largest financial asset managers, unveiled its new strategic plan last November, which consists in decreasing investments in “companies using coal and boost funding in those focused on wind power over the next six months”. According to specialists, this decision could affect investments worth €4bn. Allianz investment chief Andreas Gruber added this choice was based on “concern” over global warming, and that the company would double wind energy investments to €4bn.

Good period to invest in renewables?
Giles Dickson, EWEA chief executive officer (European Wind Energy Association), recently declared in an interview that Europe could expect to have “over 20GW offshore wind by 2020”, and that “the industry is making real progress in reducing costs”. Very well. However, Mister Dickson also warned that governments have “to give us a clear vision of the volumes they envisage long term and the regulatory framework they’ll apply to drive the necessary investments”. Once again, all is about politics. And is there in Europe, despite the global Paris climate agreement, a real political will to create a good environment for investments in renewables?

In United Kingdom, Cameron’s government blows hot and cold. In November, it decided to phase out all remaining coal-fired power stations by 2025, which seems to be good news for renewable. But on the other side, it also announced, to reduce public spending, a new decreasing gradually mechanism to lower the subsidies given to renewable projects through its Fit system (Feed-In Tariffs), that it had set up in 2010. If the modifications don’t seem really important, this measure, which will come into effect in March 2016, is not a really good signal for investors.

Also in Poland, renewable doesn’t to be the main priority. The recently elected new President, Andrzej Duda, approved anti-smog legislation allowing municipalities to ban coal-fired home furnaces, but on the other side, also refused to endorse an amendment to the UN’s Kyoto carbon-cutting pact, requiring Poland to curb greenhouse gas emissions that equal around one percent of the global total. Difficult choices have to be made by Poland, with 90% of its energy generated from coal, and tens of thousands minors who could lose their job.

In spite of a general trend currently unfolding, opening doors for private investments in renewable energies, a state of uncertainty still remains. The drop of crude oil prices, if holding, could be a huge handicap for renewable, making it uncompetitive. At the same time, the fall of coal exchange rate may also be the coup de grâce for countries relying on coal, and a good reason to invest in renewable energies.

The share of energy generated from renewable sources in the European Union continued to grow in 2014. 24 of the 28 EU member states saw their share grow compared to 2013.

A new report from Eurostat reveals renewable sources used in gross final consumption of energy now accounts for 16% of all energy used, almost double the 8.5% used in 2004 and nine member states have already reached their 2020 targets.

The highest share of renewables used for final energy consumption is in Sweden at 52.6%, followed by Latvia and Finland on 38.7%, Austria on 33.1% and Denmark with 29.2%.

In contrast, in Luxembourg just 4.5% of energy comes from renewable sources, with Malta on 4.7%, the Netherlands on 5.5% and the UK languishing fourth from bottom on 7.0%.

France, the Netherlands and the UK are the furthest away from their targets. Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Croatia, Italy, Lithuania, Romania, Finland and Sweden have met their 2020 targets.

Let’s remind that each state has its own 2020 objective taking into account different starting points, renewable energy potential and economic performance.

Denmark has awarded Nissum Bredning Vindmollelaug the rights to build a 28MW offshore wind demonstration project in Jutland, which should cost Dkr300m (€40m).

The winner of the country’s experimental wind competition will install four Siemens 7MW turbines atop jacket foundations with bucket feet, also designed by Siemens. Full operations are expected in 2017 :

“The pilot scheme gives the opportunity to test these technology elements on a large scale in conditions similar to the North Sea, where the technology is expected to be used first. The project also includes a new cable and switchgear concept with 66kV voltage which is expected to be standard voltage for future offshore wind farms”, said the Danish Energy Authority.

The Nissum installation is expected to lead to savings of around 12.5% compared to existing technologies, over the lifetime of the project.

German researchers from the Research Alliance Wind Energy (FVWE) have developed intelligent rotor blades concepts which can adapt to the wind for efficient power generation.

The three-year €12m Smart Blades project was funded by the German Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy, in a joint effort between Research Alliance Wind Energy (FVWE) the German Aerospace Center (DLR), Fraunhofer IWES and ForWind, the Center for Wind Energy Research of the Universities of Oldenburg, Hanover and Bremen.

It has examined blades that are able to adapt their geometry to suit the local wind conditions using active and passive technologies :

“The project findings provide new information and tools which enable turbine developers and operators to launch more effective, more cost-efficient and more reliable system designs on the market”, the researchers said.

They added that when a rotor blade is subject to high wind it turns in such a way that it offers the wind a smaller contact surface, known as bending-torsion coupling.

The bending is initiated by the force of the wind alone and is described as a “passive” mechanism.

Two approaches were considered that produce this effect including a crescent-shaped geometry and a particular structure for the material composition of the rotor blade.

The new approaches were test for cost-efficiency with a state-of-the-art 80-metre-long rotor blade in simulations, with next step for the researchers to be able to test their results on full-scale rotor blades.

A massive tidal energy project on the seabed off Northern Ireland’s north coast should begin in 2018, developers said.

Fair Head Tidal is planning to submit a marine licence application this summer for a 100MW tidal energy scheme to be located off the north Antrim coast of Northern Ireland, which would generate enough electricity to power the equivalent of 70,000 homes.

However, the company is consulting with communities in Ballycastle and Rathlin Island before it submits its planning application.

The team behind the Fair Head Tidal Energy Park, a joint venture between Cork-based DP Energy and Belgium company Bluepower, has concluded a series of surveys offshore and onshore.

The results of the surveys are being assessed and will be included in the marine licence application to install an array of tidal turbines.

DP Energy project manager Clodagh McGrath explained:

“The Fair Head Tidal development strategy is to progress with a 100MW offshore consent application and build the project out in phases, planned to commence in 2018. We will of course continue this engagement process as we finalise our plans and look forward to hosting more local open days this spring before we complete our application.(…) At these open days we will be sharing details on the surveys completed, the proposed tidal energy technologies and how we plan to bring the energy ashore and connect into the national electricity grid.”

A Trinity College engineering graduate is raising €10m to develop a nuclear power technology, that he and his partners claim could produce electricity more safely. It would also do so more cheaply than a new coal-fired power station or the latest nuclear one that Britain plans to build at a cost of up to €32bn, they say.

Founder of Energy Process Developments Rory O’Sullivan, 29, who has begun talking to a number of prospective Irish investors about the project, has partnered with British Moltex Energy founders environmentalist John Durham and scientist Dr Ian Scott, an entrepreneur and former chief scientist at consumer goods giant Unilever.

Cambridge-educated Dr Scott made a breakthrough in establishing that because of its design and how it works. By containing molten salt nuclear fuel in tubes, rather than hazardously pumping it around pipes, valves and heat exchangers outside a reactor, his stable salt reactor method, which keeps the fuel locked up in closed tubes, is far safer.

It also avoids the requirement for as much highly specialised, expensive and failsafe systems for cooling, containment and safety control, which raise new nuclear costs to levels that leave electricity billpayers and governments on the hook for tens of billions.

Rory O’Sullivan explained :

“We aim to win a slice of £250m funding the UK government has made available and have also established partners in Asia to develop the technology there. But we need further investment now to ensure we can take the lead internationally. Today’s clean power technologies will not reduce global energy poverty at today’s costs. Drastic cost reductions are required to implement clean power on a mammoth scale.”

Nuclear power is currently illegal here, but he added that the Moltex design could be used here in modular units that each generate about 150MW of power, which would be enough for about 45,000 homes, potentially within the next 10 years.

The UK wind energy industry received a boost yesterday (Wednesday) with the announcement of the world’s biggest offshore wind farm, to be built by Dong Energy 120km off the Yorkshire coast. The project will feature around 150 and 332 wind turbines.

The wind farm is being developed with a capacity of 1.2GW and will provide electricity to around one million homes in the country. The wind project is in line with the firm’s strategy of installing 6.5GW by 2020. The company was awarded a contract for the project in April 2014.

Brent Cheshire, chief executive of Dong Energy in the UK said:

“We are making a major financial investment to construct this giant windfarm and this underlines our commitment to the UK market. Hornsea Project One will support the supply chain and help create local jobs.”

An estimated 2,000 jobs will be created for the construction of the project, with a further 300 jobs likely to be created for its operation. Dong, Denmark’s state-backed energy utility, told The Guardian it expected to invest another £6bn in the UK by 2020 (€7.8bn), in a fillip to the beleaguered wind industry.